Flagler College hires Jacksonville law firm to look into doctored student stats

Flagler College President William Abare, Jr. addresses students about the investigation into freshman scores being upgraded by the collegeâ€™s vice president for enrollment management, Marc Williar, in Lewis Auditorium Tuesday evening, February 18, 2014.

St. Augustine Record

ST. AUGUSTINE — Flagler College continued damage control following its disclosure that the college’s vice president of enrollment management had altered test scores, GPAs and class rankings of freshmen for several years in order to make incoming classes look better.

“I regret that this has happened,” President William Abare Jr. told an audience of about 200 students who attended an hour-long open meeting at the school’s Lewis Auditorium in St. Augustine on Tuesday evening.

On Monday the college notified students, alumni and news outlets that Marc Williar, vice president of enrollment management, had changed test scores, GPAs and class ranks for incoming freshmen from fall 2010 to fall 2013.

The escalated figures were the ones reported to groups such as U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review that come up with college rankings.

“We will make a full disclosure [of the investigation results]. If it’s embarrassing, it’s embarrassing,” Abare said, explaining that the college has hired McGuireWoods law firm in Jacksonville to conduct the investigation and that Talbot “Sandy” D’Alemberte, former Florida State University president, would act as special counsel.

Exactly when the investigation will be finished is uncertain.

Abare drew one of the few laughs of the evening when he said that at $400 an hour billable costs he hoped the investigation would be conducted quickly.

He told students the college was “well respected in higher education” and that one incident “should not blemish” that standing.

Following his prepared remarks, he opened the floor for questions from students who zeroed in on possible consequences for them and the college as well as how the changes made by the vice president went unnoticed until a faculty member reported the inconsistencies on Feb. 10.

Asked about checks and balances, Abare said lack of them was “precisely why this happened.”

He reassured students several times that the incident would have no affect on accreditation or their standing, noting the changed grades involved high school records not what they earned in college.

College guidance counselors used the written information from high schools not the altered computer records, he said.

Students at Tuesday’s meeting wanted to know why Williar was allowed to resign rather than be fired, whether financial incentives were involved and why he had changed the information.

Abare said no financial incentives were given for better scores and speculated that “maybe personal and professional pride” to maintain certain goals and standards led to the administrator making the changes.

Letting Williar resign was “my call. I don’t have any second thoughts,” he said.

The college will take a “very hard look at the admission process,” Abare said, saying it intends to make sure a similar incident doesn’t happen again and he said based on the computer trail, no one else was involved from the admissions office.

“We put our faith and trust in people to do the right thing,” Abare said, noting he had worked in admissions for 22 years and that was the situation in most admissions offices.

The evening meeting came after a long day for Abare talking to alumni, officials and the media.

Over the past two days, he has contacted U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

U.S. News officials told him they would not make any decision about what would happen next year until the full report was issued by the attorneys and D’Alemberte.

“[Abare’s] intent was to be sure they heard from him before they heard from anyone else,” said Mary Jane Dillon, assistant to the president. “Alumni, trustees and friends of the college have been overwhelmingly supportive.” What the fallout will mean for the school isn’t yet clear.

“I don’t know that we know fully what it means for us. It certainly means that the data we have submitted was incorrect; therefore, judgments made based on freshman profiles were based on inaccurate data,” Dillon said.

Abare told students the college would have to wait and see how the incident affected student retention and what impact it would have on admissions.